The present invention relates to a stabilizing mechanism for a follower steering or guide axle of a vehicle trailer. The wheels of the axle are mounted on the axle body of the latter via respective knuckle arms, with the wheels being interconnected via respective guide levers and a tie bar.
Various embodiments of guide axles of the aforementioned general type for vehicle trailers are known. With these guide axles, a stabilizing mechanism is provided between the axle body and the tie bar. Such a stabilizing mechanism comprises, for example, inclined shock absorbers that on the one hand are connected to the tie rod and on the other hand are connected to the axle body. Since the shock absorbers were able to cope for only a short period of time with the loads that occur during driving operation, and since the stabilization during straight-ahead travel was imperfect, stabilizing mechanisms were developed that during straight-ahead travel fix the tie rod to the axle body in a specific position, and permit a maximum angle of turn only when a specific magnitude of the frictional forces between the tires and the roadway force such a turn. A follower guide axle having this improved stabilization is known, for example, from German Pat. No. 18 10 261 Steiner et al dated Mar. 19, 1970. With this known follower guide axle, a linkage that is displaceable in the longitudinal direction is disposed between the axle body and a segmented tie rod. This linkage is provided with a curve guidance that has a groove into which a guide roller constantly extends under elastic preload. In addition, a drag lever is mounted on the axle body. The inner ends of the tie rods are also connected to this lever, with the guide rollers that cooperate with the curve guidance being mounted on the tie rods. Although follower guide axles having such an improved stabilizing mechanism operate satisfactorily, they have a construction that requires a lot of maintenance and has a lot of parts that are subject to wear; in addition, such an arrangement requires a compressed air mechanism for operating the stabilizing mechanism.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a follower guide axle that has a straightforward construction and also has an improved stabilizing mechanism.